Apple flunks Greenpeace's toxic test

[KiwiCoromandel]

Apple, Lenovo and Motorola have all "flunked" a new Greenpeace scorecard that compares the amount of toxic waste contained in phones and computers sold by large manufacturers.

The scorecard aims to highlight which of the electronics companies have done the most to remove the worst toxic chemicals from their products and run effective recycling programs.

"Only Dell and Nokia scraped a barely respectable score while Apple, Motorola and Lenovo flunked the test to finish bottom of the class," said Greenpeace.

Our growing appetite for the latest electronic gadgets means that the volume of toxic e-waste made up of dangerous metals and plastics is on the rise, and Greenpeace said much of it was being dumped in developing countries.

Nokia and Dell claimed top positions in the first scorecard because of recycling policies introduced for their own-brand products.

Greenpeace said Nokia had also led the way on eliminating toxic chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), while Dell had "set ambitious targets" for removing harmful substances from its products.

The guide will be updated every quarter and Greenpeace International toxics campaigner Iza Kruszewska said he hoped it would set off a "race to the top" between the manufacturers.

"By taking back their discarded products, companies will have incentives to eliminate harmful substances used in their products, since this is the only way they can ensure safe reuse and recycling of electronic waste," he said.

He added that it was disappointing to see Apple ranking so low in the overall guide.

"They are meant to be world leaders in design and marketing; they should also be world leaders in environmental innovation," he said.

Although Lenovo claimed the very lowest ranking in the scorecard with a rating of less than 2/10, Greenpeace said the company had earned some points for chemicals management and voluntary product take-back programmes.

"But it needs to do better on all criteria," the environmental group said.

Also near the bottom of the list was Motorola, which Greenpeace said had scored points for its chemicals management system, but rated poorly on product take-back and recycling, and lost further ground after backtracking on commitments to eliminate PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

The environmental group said that, although the companies were scored on information publicly available on their websites, penalty points would be deducted if they were found to be "lying, practising double standards or other corporate misconduct".

Despite a growing backlog of old equipment, there is as yet no legislation in Australia to prevent people from dumping it.

And with an average score of only 4/10 across all the suppliers, Greenpeace said it was clear that "the electronics industry has a long way to go before it can make any claims to being a green industry".

E-waste scorecard:

1. Nokia - Good but room for improvement on amounts recycled. (7/10)

2. Dell - Points lost for not yet having models without the worst chemicals. Strong support for take-back. (7/10)

3. Hewlett Packard - Timelines only to provide plan for toxics phase-out. Good on amounts recycled. (5.7/10)

4. Sony Ericsson - Some models without some of the worst chemicals, but bad on precautionary principle and take-back. (5.3/10)

5. Samsung - Points for toxic phase-out but not good on take-back and recycling. (5/10)

6. Sony - Some models without the worst chemicals, but bad on precautionary principle and take-back. (4.7/10)

7. LGE - Points for toxic phase-out date but bad on take-back. (4.3/10)

8. Panasonic - Only good on chemicals management. (3.3/10)

9. Toshiba - Some models without the worst chemicals, but no timelines for elimination and poor on take-back. (3/10)

10. Fujitsu-Siemens - Points for some models free of worst chemicals, but poor on take-back. (3/10)

11. Apple - Low scores on almost all criteria. (2.7/10)

12. Acer - Should do better on all criteria. (2.3/10)

13. Motorola - Points for chemicals management. Recently broke clean-up promise. (1.7/10)

14. Lenovo - The lowest score of all companies. (1.3/10)

Source: Greenpeace

image:blog.wired.com...Apple flunks Greenpeace's toxic test...